


Never Back Down

by ontherightdirection



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Boarding School, Bullying, Fluff, High School, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 17:39:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3455996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ontherightdirection/pseuds/ontherightdirection
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Niall had been bullied his whole life. Now, he has the opportunity to start all over again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> So this is an old fic I wrote like 2-3 years ago and now I found it and I'm correcting some writing mistakes (tho my English still isn't the best, but back then it was far worse). So I hope this turns out well.

“Hey look, there is the  _faggot_.”

“Let’s give him what he deserves!”

“Let me kick him first!

“Let me punch his face!”

“Hahahaha! Take this  _homo_!”

Niall suddenly woke up, by the sound of the airplane speakers. The plane has just landed.

It was all just a flashback. Back in Mullingar, his life wasn’t the best; he didn’t had that much friends. Actually, he only had one: Sean. After he came out as gay, Sean was the only one that didn't judge him and actually stayed as a true friend. Niall’s other friends were all girls. Before coming out, he used to be friends with everyone, but after rumors started spraying and him _actually_ confirming these rumors to be true, everyone turned their backs on him and started to make his life a hell. And it was a shame, Niall used to love school, he loved the learning and he actually got along with every teacher (probably because he was the perfect student, always the first of the class). And now he just hated it, because school meant bullying.

But now, it was all back to the past. Now he was starting all over again.

Boarding School. London. New city, new school, new life. 

It didn’t sound that bad. He just had to stay invisible, avoid problems. He didn’t had to make friends, just stay by himself, maybe in college things would get better for him, but now he just had to get away from every problem he could get in, he didn't wanted to ruin things once again.

-

_London._

Niall felt like the trip from the airport to the school lasted years. It probably just was an hour or so, but he was so nervous that every minute for him seemed like an eternity. All of this was so new to him, and in the bottom of his heart all he was hoping was that things would be better for him just once in his life. 

When the car got out of the highway, Niall could get his first glimpse of the school. The school's main building was big and old (at least a couple of centuries old he could guess). Surrounding the main building were other modern ones, not really matching the whole traditional esthetic that the old building gave, but they looked nice indeed. He could also see some football fields and some tennis court in the background, all surrounded by a forest. 

As the car drove in front of the main building, he saw a limo parked (yeah, people in this school were really wealthy and fancy. Thanks to his perfect grades, he got a scholarship, if not, not in a million years his parents could afford his education here) . Beside the limo, there was a curly-haired boy, face red with anger, shouting things to the driver that Niall barely could understand. Even tho the boy looked like a prick, Niall had to admit that he was good looking. And that was definitely a _problem_ if he wanted to stay as far from problems as he wanted. Now he had to avoid falling for the cute curly-haired boy, or at least try to make it the less obvious as it possibly was. 

-

“Mr. Horan?” an old woman approached him as soon as he got out of the car. Niall nodded at her question, “follow me, please.”

Niall did so. She held a key and unlocked a door at the side of the main building. She gestured him to get in as she opened the door for him. “Mr. Müller, the principal, wants to talk to you before I lead you to the dorms."

Niall walked in what probably was the principal office. It was a big and old room, the four wall were made of stone, and the floor was covered with a yellow and red carpet (which Niall thought it looked a bit tacky, but it gave the room that traditional look). In the far end of the room was a desk, and behind it there was a man sat in a big cushioned chair. But before his attention could settle in the man behind the desk, he focused in the big tapestry covering the wall behind him. It had the color of the school, blue, black and white; in the center of it, was a bird flying.

"You know, Mr. Horan," the man talked driving Niall off his thoughts, "We like to think of our students as a group birds. They are really intelligent animals, but a bird alone will probably die out in the wild. We like to think of our school as a place in which students can work as a whole team." The man cleared his throat before continuing. His accent was strong, probably he wasn't English either. He was tall and the expression on his face was severe, which mixed the fact that his whole hair was white, made him look a bit scary, "I know you're a brilliant student, Mr. Horan, as I can see your grades. But I heard from your old school that you had some problems getting around with people." If you call getting bullied by everyone in the school having problems to get along with his fellow classmates, the he had some really big social problems he thought. "So, I want you to know that here teamwork is as important as being smart. So you better work on that, Mr. Horan." He dismissed Niall with a hand gesture, but before he could leave the room he added “Oh and I almost forgot, welcome to the Cowell’s Boarding School for boys."

-

When he got out of the principal office, the same woman as before led him through a corridor. It was covered with a red carpet, and in the stone walls was hanging portraits of the past principals of the school. The last one he could see was the one of Simon Cowell, the founder of the school.

After going throw some rooms and multiple hallways (shit, he already felt lost) they arrived at Niall's new room. “You’re going to share a room with other two students”, she said. “I hope you get along with them.” She smiled and invited Niall to go in. The room was small. At the left side of the room, there was two bunk beds and a single one at the other side of the room. Between them, there was a little night stand, covered by books and some random papers, probably of his new roommates. Next to the bed, there was a big wardrobe. Niall opened his luggage and started to place his clothes in the wardrobe.

When he was half way done, he could hear the door opening. 

“Hi there”, said a boy standing by the door. He probably was one of his new roommates. “My name is Liam; you must be… Uhm… Niall?”

The boy was taller than Niall and had brown straightened hair. His face was cute (like a puppy, he thought), but at the same time, he had a well-built body, which was a weird (but not bad at all) combination. 

“Oh, yea…. I’m N-Niall. Nice to meet you.”

Officially, Niall had now two _problems_ in the school, and now he was sharing rooms with one of them.


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, so this took longer to edit than i though. I'm sorry. I promise I'll be updating more regularly

Harry Styles only had one friend

It wasn’t because people didn’t like him; actually he was very popular among the other students. And the fact that everyone liked him also was the reason why Harry didn’t have that many  _real_  friends. He knew that they only wanted to be his friend because his parents had lots of money. He could be a prick (and he kinda acted like one most of the time) and people would still make everything to be at his side. And maybe if his parents weren't absurdly rich, people would like him because of what  _he_ was, no because what he had.

And Harry hated Cowell’s school. He hated teachers. He hated students. He hated people. He hated everything that this school meant. Being surrounded by all of these posh and spoiled kids, who only care about how much money you have on your bank account and how fabulous was your last party. He was just tired of all of this shit show. 

And that’s why Harry Styles one had one friend:

_Louis Tomlinson._

Louis wasn’t like the other students. In fact,  _Louis wasn’t a student._ He used to be, 2 years ago. The school thought that it would be a great idea if a former student kept an eye on them, since he would know all the student's tricks and would understand better how to get them. So after he graduated, the school hired him so he could help them with the student behavior. But more than part of the school staff, Louis was part of them.  He always wanted to be involved in the students pranks (obviously, without getting noticed by any of the school authorities), and he even influenced Harry to skip some classes and joke around.

But why was Louis so special to Harry and wasn't like the other people Harry knew? It was because Louis didn’t give a fuck about how much money Harry had. All he cared about was to just have a good time and making all the people around him happy. Yes, that’s why Harry liked Louis; because he was the only one who could make him feel _happy_.

-

Niall's first day at Cowell school hadn't gone bad at all. He got to meet his new roommate Liam, whom as far as he got to know him he could tell he was a good guy. And as soon as he was done unpacking, Liam even offered him a tour of the school, which Niall ended up accepting (and maybe regretting it after it was done, because you know, walking around with probably one of the cutest guy he's seen in his life and acting cool about it isn't something easy at all, at least no for Niall).

The tour around the school actually went pretty well. Liam was a friendly and cool guy. He showed him around the main school building, which in fact became really handy for Niall since the school inside was way bigger than it seemed (probably without Liam's tour, Niall would've been completely lost for at least a couple of weeks). Although Liam tried several times to talk to him, Niall would just answer with simple replies, not looking forward to engaging in an actual conversation. He may have looked a bit rude and he didn't want to make things awkward with his roommate on the first day, but Niall was nervous as hell and he didn't want to sound like a complete idiot in front of the other boy (or worst, sound like a pathetic teenager girl, who felt madly attracted to the brunette lad).

After they finished the main building, the two boys went outside. They walked around and Liam showed him the tennis courts and the football field (which Niall thought were amazing and reminded him when he was little and he used to spend hours just passing the ball with his brother Greg).When they were almost done with the tour Liam pointed at the forest that surrounded the school. "In the whole school, that is my favorite place," Liam said while looking at the forest. "Whenever something is bothering me or I feel homesick. Or I just want to be by myself, without anyone bothering me. I just come here. Being surrounded by nature just calms me. And also no one ever come there.”  

They got back to their room after they were done and for Niall surprise there was another boy in the room. The lad had tanned skin tan boy and perfectly styled hair. He was sitting on the edge of the single bed arranging some books in his school bag. “He's Zayn, our roommate,” Liam introduced “Hi Niall, nice to meet you”, Zayn said smiling and got back to what he was doing before they got back to the room. Niall replied with a smile because he didn't know what else to do and by this time of the day he was a bit tired of greeting new people.

-

The next morning, Niall has his first _actual_ day of class. He pulled on his school uniform, which consisted of gray pants, a white shirt, a tie with the colors of the school and a navy cardigan (pretty boring, he decided. A bit of color wouldn't be bad). This was his first class in Cowell’ school and even though he didn't want to admit it, he was excited about it. Firstly because Cowell School was one of the best schools in London and secondly, he was having the opportunity of leaving all the bullying behind.  Niall looked at his schedule. Chemistry - Room 35B was printed on the paper. Actually, as odd as it would sound, this were good news for Niall. Chemistry was actually one of his favorite subjects, and he had to admit that he was really good at it. So he at least there was something that would make him feel _less nervous_ about his first day here.

Since it was his first day, he set his alarm 30 minutes before the normal time he estimated it would take him normally to get ready, since he was scared he would get lost trying to find his classroom. After wandering around a bit and thanks to Liam's tour he finally found his room, in less time than he thought it would take him to get to his classroom, which meant he got there before anybody arrived. So Niall took the opportunity to strategically choose his seat before anybody came in the room. Back in Mullingar he would sit in the first row of the classroom since he loved learning and in the front row is always easier to catch what is the teacher doing. But seating in the front seats also meant other people being aware of your existence, which wasn't at all in Niall's plans. So instead of sitting where he would normally do, he went for a seat in the back of the class, as it was the safest choice.

As the time passed, the classroom started to fill slowly. And before he already knew the bell rang announcing the start of the class. His chemistry teacher was Ms. Cole. She was probably in her thirties, but she still looked as pretty and young (actually he looked better than his female classmates. Actually if he was straight he would probably have a crush on the teacher). As soon as the class started the door swung open. There was the curly-haired boy that Niall saw yesterday in the car. He was standing in the front door, obviously late for the class

“It's the first class of this semester and you're already late, Mr. Styles.” 

“I know, I know.  I’m sorry Ms. Cole, my alarm didn’t go off.” The boy excused himself and looked around for an empty chair. Unluckily for Niall, the only empty chair in the room was the one right beside him. A freaking Harry Styles (AKA the most handsome, but biggest prick at school) seated right next to him. 

The class went pretty well. Even though Niall already knew much of what the teacher was trying to explain, he still enjoyed the class. Ms. Cole was a really intelligent teacher and made the class a lot more pleasant. After the class was done and before anybody could leave their desks, Ms. Cole announced, “Well, class; for this semester I have a special assignment for you. You will have to work in pairs and research for a topic that I’ll give you”, she took a brief pause before adding: “And to make it fair, you will be working with the one seated next to you.”He could feel his eyes widen in shock and cold sweat running through his body. This was a total mess. Working the whole semester with Harry Styles. Now his favorite class was going to be a living hell. Trying to ignore the gorgeousness of Harry Styles (if it was even possible at all), and actually attempting to get some work done at the same time was going to be painfully hard. And that wasn't going to help him keeping his secret from being sprayed all over the school.

This was going to be a really hard semester for Niall.

-

After all his classes were done, Liam got back to their room. It was a rough day. He got used to not doing much at all in summer holidays, so being back to school was painfully tiring. Starting with the fact that he wasn't a big fan of waking early. And although he was a good student and pretty much enjoyed school, the first week of classes always wasn't productive at all, which meant he was bored in almost all his classes. Back in the room, Zayn was laying in his bed, reading some random book while listening to music. Liam left his books on the nightstand between the beds and sat in his bed, and looked at Zayn. After some failed attempts at getting Zayn attention, the dark-haired boy took off his headphones. “Hey Zayn. What do you think of our new roommate?”, without getting his eyes from his book he replied, “Uhm… I don’t know… I haven’t talked with him since he got here… He's not the type that talk to much I think. Maybe he's shy or who knows.”

“Uhm yeah. I showed him around the school and he barely talked", Liam took a pause before adding, "This will sound weird, but I don’t know why I think something's off 'bout him.” This actually caught Zayn attention. Liam always tended to overthink about people feelings, he always wanted to see everyone being happy. And Zayn new that Liam wouldn't stop worrying until he knew what was wrong with the kid. “Well, maybe he is a little nervous... after all, he is new here…" Zayn tried his best to make Liam think everything was alright, or else the boy wouldn't rest until he was sure their new roommate was alright. "I think we should get to know him better, before making assumptions like that… I bet he is actually a cool bloke.”

Liam was sure it wasn't only the "shyness", there was something about Niall that didn't seemed right. He could see it in his eyes. It was like Niall was scared. He knew there was something else. And Liam was decided.

He was going to get Niall to _trust_ him and know what was off with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully, this is getting better. i promise the next chapter is when actual things start to happen


End file.
